Françoise Hardy dead: French singer, actress and fashion icon has died at 80

French singer and actress Françoise Hardy has died at the age of 80. Her musician son Thomas Dutronc shared the news that his mother had passed away on his Instagram. He captioned a black and white photograph of himself with his mother and wrote: “Maman est partie…” (in English mum has gone). 

Since he posted his tribute, Thomas Dutronc has been inundated with thousands of comments from fans. One wrote: “Warm thoughts to you and your dad Thomas. She loved you so much. Her most beautiful song was for you. So many beautiful things, this is what she leaves us, her voice will live forever,” whilst another said: Francoise, beautiful in the soul and heart. Ever since I was 10 years old an idol and a charming icon.”

French newspaper Le Monde described Hardy as someone whose “elusive, airy voice expressed her melancholy and her attachment to "black bile," one of the four moods defined by the doctors of yesteryear, the one that drove people to sadness. "I love nothing so much as the wound protected by the wall of its appearances," wrote Hardy, an exceptional lyricist, in Clair-obscur (2000).”

Françoise Hardy was born in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1944 and was reportedly born in the middle of an air raid. Growing up, she listened to the likes of Elvis Presley on Radio Luxembourg, she received her first guitar as a present at the age of 16 and started writing her own songs and auditioning for record labels.  Françoise Hardy was only 17 when she signed her first record deal with Disques Vogue. 

The BBC reported that “Her breakout as a musician came in 1962 with the simple, plaintive song, Tous les garçons et les filles, when she sang of all the boys and girls walking hand in hand, while "I walk alone through the streets, my heart aching."

Her style captivated fashion designers, becoming a model for the likes of Yves Saint Laurent and Paco Rabanne, who designed a minidress out of gold plates for her.”

It would seem that  Françoise Hardy captivated many men, including Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger. She was described by Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones as ‘the ideal woman’ whilst Bob Dylan referred to her in a poem on his 1964 album Another Side of Bob Dylan. He also is believed to have written several love letters to her. David Bowie is another star who was said to have been ‘passionately in love with her.’

Françoise Hardy’s breakthrough song was Tous les garçons et les filles (All the boys and girls), in 1962 which she wrote herself and sold more than 2.5m copies. This was not her only song that went to the top of her French charts, she also had success with the singles Je Suis D’Accord and Le Temps de L’Amour. 

Françoise Hardy came fifth with Monaco in the Eurovision song contest in 1963. She also collaborated with Serge Gainsbourg and duetted with the likes of Damon Albarn, Iggy Pop and Julio Iglesias.

Françoise Hardy was not only a singer but an actress too and starred in movies such as the 1966 sports drama Grand Prix. Françoise Hardy was also considered a fashion icon and Vogue described her as “Much more than a popular sixties singer, Françoise Hardy is also a style icon of the yéyé years with an ultra-identifiable look. Carried by the political, social and cultural (and therefore fashion liberation movements of the time, her style, like that of her peers Jane Birkin or Catherine Deneuve still remains inspiring today because it is timeless.”

Rachida Dati, France’s culture minister, also paid tribute to Françoise Hardy on social media dn wrote: “How to say goodbye to her? Eternal Françoise Hardy, legend of French song, who entered through her sensitivity and her melodies, into the heart of an entire country.”